Personally, were I a student, and had a dress code, I'd like to see the teachers *also* have a similar dress code. It might help bring teachers and students together in a kind of, "heck, we're all in the same boat" situation. Sure - the administration (or "the system", depending on how you see it) will be seen as the bad guys, but at least the *teachers* won't be seen as the 'bad guys'. A sort of "we're all in this together" feeling in the class may help. Of course, it may take a while to get over the feeling of being a Disneyworld or Mcdonalds employee, but the uniformity in dress will help the creativity shine through in other areas. Of course, I can hear the collective groans of "B.S."... ...but uniforms are less restrictive than "boys can't wear earrings" for example. How so? Well, when I was in 10th grade, I had an earring. I wore it for years beforehand. But in 10th grade, they changed the dress code. I thought they were kidding me! But they weren't. I wrote a long letter to the school new
spaper (what's a kid to do?) about the issue, and said even then that I would prefer issued uniforms rather than a little nibbling away at dress freedom here and there, seemingly arbitrarily. At least, then all would feel the constriction, rather than just those who want to dress outside of a dress code ("no tube tops" is not restrictive to a girl that likes to wear blouses, but *is* restrictive to girls that like to wear tube tops, for example). Do they still call it "tube tops"?) -Kenneth
